USA v. Curtis Eugene Mitchell, No. 12-13457 (11th Cir. 2013)
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Case: 12-13457 Date Filed: 02/01/2013 Page: 1 of 3 [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT ________________________ No. 12-13457 Non-Argument Calendar ________________________ D.C. Docket No. 4:96-cr-00065-CDL-2 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, versus CURTIS EUGENE MITCHELL, a.k.a. Paradise, Defendant-Appellant. ________________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia ________________________ (February 1, 2013) Before HULL, JORDAN and BLACK, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Case: 12-13457 Date Filed: 02/01/2013 Page: 2 of 3 Curtis Eugene Mitchell appeals the district court s denial of his 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2) motion for a sentence reduction. Mitchell s guidelines range was 240 to 293 months due to the operation of a statutory mandatory minimum sentence pursuant to 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(A). His § 3582(c)(2) motion was based on Amendment 750, which permanently amended U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1 by revising the drug quantity table to reduce offense levels associated with various amounts of crack cocaine. On appeal, Mitchell argues the district court erred in denying his § 3582(c)(2) motion because he was sentenced to a statutory mandatory maximum sentence, rather than a statutory mandatory minimum sentence. He also argues the sentencing enhancement he received at his original sentencing was invalid. We review de novo a district court s conclusions about the scope of its legal authority under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2). United States v. James, 548 F.3d 983, 984 (11th Cir. 2008). In United States v. Mills, 613 F.3d 1070 (11th Cir. 2010), we held that a sentencing court lacks jurisdiction to consider a § 3582(c)(2) motion, even when an amendment would lower the defendant s otherwise-applicable Guidelines sentencing range, when the defendant was sentenced on the basis of a mandatory minimum. Id. at 1078. Mitchell was subject to a statutory mandatory minimum of 240 months pursuant to § 841(b)(1)(A). Because his guidelines range was based on a statutory mandatory minimum and not the maximum, as he contends Amendment 750 2 Case: 12-13457 Date Filed: 02/01/2013 Page: 3 of 3 did not lower his guidelines range, and Mitchell was not eligible for a sentence reduction under § 3582(c)(2). Mills, 613 F.3d at 1078; see also United States v. Glover, 686 F.3d 1203, 1206 (11th Cir. 2012) (holding that an amendment that alters the initial calculation of a guidelines range is not to be applied in a case where . . . a mandatory minimum would have trumped the initial calculation and dictated the final guidelines range anyway ). Moreover, to the extent Mitchell seeks to challenge the enhancements to his original sentence, the district court lacks authority to revisit that determination in a § 3582(c)(2) proceeding. See Dillon v. United States, 130 S. Ct. 2683, 2694 (2010) (holding that because the aspects of his sentence that Dillon [sought] to correct were not affected by the Commission s amendment to § 2D1.1, they [were] outside the scope of the proceeding authorized by § 3582(c)(2), and the District Court properly declined to address them ). Accordingly, we affirm the district court s denial of Mitchell s § 3582(c)(2) motion. AFFIRMED. 3
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